UNMC_Acronym_Vert_sm_4c
University of Nebraska Medical Center

Stacey Gilk, PhD

Professor, UNMC Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology

Coxiella Research Lab

Stacey Gilk, PhD

Stacey Gilk, PhD, is a professor in the UNMC Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology. Her graduate work in Dr. Gary Ward's lab focused on characterizing proteins involved in motility and host cell invasion by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

Following a post-doc at the University of North Carolina, where she elucidated the role of lipids during toxoplasma infection, she joined Bob Heinzen's lab at the Rocky Mountain Labs, National Institutes of Health, in Hamilton, MT, as a postdoctoral fellow in 2007.  

At the NIH, she focused on the role of cholesterol in interactions between the intracellular bacterial pathogen Coxiella burnetii and the host cell.  She joined the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Indiana University School of Medicine in 2013, and joined UNMC in 2020.

Education & Training
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institutes of Health, Rocky Mountain Labs, Hamilton, MT, 2012
  • Postdoctoral Associate, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 2007
  • PhD, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 2004
  • BS, Biology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 1998
Research Focus

Understanding how Coxiella survives in the host cell, and identifying new therapeutic targets.

Publications

Expertise/Area of Focus
Cell biology of obligate intracellular pathogens
Honors & Awards
  • AAMC Early Career Women Faculty Leadership Development Seminar
  • IUSM Trustees Teaching Award
  • IUSM Outstanding Postdoc Mentor Award
  • IUSM Elwert Award in Medicine
  • NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence
Professional Memberships
  • American Society for Rickettsiology; president, 2023-24.
  • American Heart Association